22 White Sands Roswell Carlsbad Caverns - 2022

Vacation 2022

White Sands National Park / Roswell, New Mexico / Carlsbad Caverns National Park

White Sands National Park is in the Southwest part of New Mexico. Right smack dab in the middle of the White Sands Missile Testing Range. That’s about the best I can say for it.

Roswell, known for its UFO crash is in the Mid-Eastern portion of New Mexico. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any aliens.

There’s nothing around Carlsbad for miles. Probably hundreds of miles. With the exception of the bats, there’s nothing or no reason to be on the surface of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. But man, the cavern!

June 5, 2022

Start – Heading Eastward to White Sands National Park.

5:40 – The gate shack.

10:37 – Snow or sand banks?

17:04 – Sideways view #1.

30:02 – Sideways view #2.

34:00 – Let’s head on out to Roswell.

35:49 – It’s official. We’re in Roswell!

40:30 – Waldrip’s 0; Alien’s 2. Heading on out to Carlsbad Caverns. Caught some “Dirt Devel’s” along the way.

June 6, 2022

45:01 – Carlsbad Caverns Park Entrance.

1:03:03 – At the visitor’s center and entering the cavern.

1:15:57 – Sideways view #3.

1:28:03 – Leaving the park.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone visit White Sands National Park unless you were just going to be passing it as you go to another destination. I saw no reason at all for anyone to go even 30 minutes out of their way to visit it unless they jut wanted to punch their national park card of places visited. I am not saying that the park isn’t valuable as it certainly is in regard to safely hosting rare species of animals and plants. Humans aren’t rare. Unique but not rare. I recommend leaving the park to the animals.

After watching so many documentaries on modern day Roswell, I was so disappointed. I was led to believe that even when the town wasn’t hosting a festival of some sort, that alien decorations would thoroughly adorn the town. Dad and I drove a couple of streets and didn’t see many. There wasn’t even a glow-in-the-dark milkshake at the Dairy Queen. I guess I wouldn’t recommend a Roswell visit unless one knew that a festival was happen at the time of one's visit.

There is literally nothing around Carlsbad or Carlsbad Caverns. It’s dry, dusty, barren land. For hours in all directions as best I could tell. But the cave or cavern at Carlsbad Cavern National Park and the bats in the evening make the visit totally worthwhile. The landscape outside of the cave is the same as around the whole National Park. It’s dry, dusty, barren land. So other than touring the cave and watching the bats, there isn’t anything to do in the park. There’s a couple of trails but nothing of interest on them. You’d just be walking a dry, dusty, barren trail. If you plan it right, half a day is all you need at the park. Take the cave tour in the afternoon, eat a bite in the air conditioning of your car and wait for the bats to come out. The drive to Carlsbad isn’t pretty or scenic but the destination is. This should be on your bucket list!